[INDOLOGY] a question about the āśīrliṅ

[David and Nancy Reigle]

Dear Matthew,

This very question was addressed by me in a 1997 brief communication
in the *Indo-Iranian
Journal,* titled: "The 'Virtually Unknown' Benedictive Middle in Classical
Sanskrit: Two Occurrences in the Buddhist *Abhisamayālaṅkāra*." It is
attached.

Best regards,

David Reigle
Colorado, U.S.A.

On Thu, Mar 19, 2026 at 3:38 AM Matthew Kapstein via INDOLOGY <
indology at list.indology.info> wrote:

> Dear friends,
>
> In the opening verses (given below) of the *Abhisamayālamkāra-śāstra *(ASA),
> an important Mahāyāna Buddhist treatise (said to have been revealed to
> Asaṅga by the bodhisattva Maitreya), we find two instances of verbs that I
> take to be examples of “precatives” or “benedictives” (*āśīrliṅ*) in the
> middle voice (*ātmanepāda*) third person plural. Whitney (925) and
> Macdonell (150) both flatly state that the precative middle, though current
> in Vedic, does not occur in Classical Sanskrit. Renou (330-331) does not
> affirm this categorically, but suggests that the *āśīrliṅ *(without
> specifying voice) is commonly met with in kāvya and epigraphy, though
> unknown to Buddhist usage. Edgerton, BHS Grammar, has nothing at all to say
> about the *āśīrliṅ*, probably due to its absence in the corpus that he
> consulted, though the ASA is not in any case written in “hybrid” Sanskrit;
> its terminology is distinctly Buddhist, of course, but without peculiarly
> BHS grammatical forms.
>
> Conze, in the vocabulary accompanying his summary translation of the ASA
> (SOR VI) offers no grammatical analysis, but treats *vīkṣiṣīran* as an
> aorist optative, “have been able to behold,” and *pratipatsīran* as a
> future optative, “will be able to make progress.” (It seems simpler to me
> to adopt a mildly benedictive reading of both, “that the wise may behold…
> and that they may easily master…”)
>
> What I wish to ask the vyākaraṇa specialists, however, is whether I am
> correct to take these verbs as middle voice *āśīrliṅ* third person
> plural? And, if so, are there other instances, whether in Buddhist or
> non-Buddhist works, that similarly call into question Whitney and
> Macdonell’s assertions? I would welcome any other observations about this
> apparently unusual form that you may be able to share. In particular, I am
> wondering if it is plausible to take its use here as a deliberately
> archaizing gesture.
>
>
> sarvākārajñatāmārgaḥ śāsitrā yo'tra deśitaḥ|
>
> dhīmanto *vīkṣiṣīraṃs* tam anālīḍhaṃ parair iti ||1||
>
> smṛtau cādhāya sūtrārthaṃ dharmacaryāṃ daśātmikām |
>
> sukhena *pratipatsīrann* ity ārambhaprayojanam ||2||
>
> with thanks in advance for your observations and insights,
> Matthew
>
> Matthew T. Kapstein
> Professor emeritus
> Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes, PSL Research University, Paris
>
> Associate
> The University of Chicago Divinity School
>
> Member, American Academy of Arts and Sciences
>
> https://ephe.academia.edu/MatthewKapstein
>
> https://vajrabookshop.com/product/the-life-and-work-of-auleshi/
>
>
> https://www.cornellpress.cornell.edu/book/9781501716218/tibetan-manuscripts-and-early-printed-books-volume-i/#bookTabs=1
>
>
> https://www.cornellpress.cornell.edu/book/9781501771255/tibetan-manuscripts-and-early-printed-books-volume-ii/#bookTabs=1
>
> https://brill.com/edcollbook/title/60949
>
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